Coaching search on pause

Panthers must wait until two candidates are done with playoffs

Although the Florida Panthers aren’t directly involved in the Stanley Cup playoffs, they are paying close attention to when certain teams are ousted so that General Manager Dale Tallon can continue interviewing prospective head coaching candidates to replace Tom Rowe.

Tallon has already met with some candidates, such as University of Denver coach Jim Montgomery and veteran NHL coach Michel Therrien, who most recently was fired from his second head-coaching stint with the Montreal Canadiens.

It’s believed that Tallon is waiting to interview former NHL defensemen Phil Housley and Todd Reirden, assistant coaches for the Nashville Predators and Washington Capitals, respectively. They cannot be interviewed until their teams are eliminated from the playoffs.

The Panthers aren’t providing updates on the interview process.

The Denver Post reported earlier this week that Montgomery will have a second interview with Tallon at the end of the month. Montgomery, 47, is fresh off leading the

Pioneers to NCAA championship with Panthers prospects center Henrik Borgstrom and goalie Evan Cawley, as well as Hobey Baker-winning defenseman Will Butcher.

Montgomery also won two USHL championships as head coach of the Dubuque Fighting Saints, where he coached Flames All-Star left wing Johnny Gaudreau, Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons and defenseman Nick Luukko, a Flyers prospect and son of Panthers executive chairman Peter Luukko.

Housley, 53, is running the Predators defense that allowed just three goals in a stunning four-game sweep of the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round and then 11 goals in a six-game secondround series victory over the St. Louis Blues.

The Hall of Fame defenseman — who notched 338 goals and 894 assists in 1,495 games over a 21-year career — has worked with Tallon on Team USA, where the Panthers GM is on the advisory board. Together they helped Team USA win a gold medal in the World Cup of Hockey last fall.

Housley’s ties to Tallon go back to the Blackhawks organization. Housley played for Chicago from 2001-03; Tallon was director of player personnel and then their radio/TV broadcaster. Housley was head coach of the gold-medal winning U.S. World Junior team in the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship.

“Any time your name gets thrown out there, it just shows that a lot of people have respect for the work you’ve done,” Housley told the TwinCities Pioneer Press recently. “[The Team USA experience] really helped me. You work with other people there and see how they coach and how they address the players, and I’ve tried to just consume all of that knowledge and use it. It’s been a great experience, and I think it can help moving forward.”

Housley has helped develop young Predators defensemen such as Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm. The Panthers have an extremely young defensive corps, including Aaron Ekblad, 21, Alex Petrovic, 25, Mike Matheson, 23 and Mark Pysyk, 25, as well as prospects Ian McCoshen, 21, and MacKenzie Weegar, 23.

Likewise, Reirden, 55, has helped develop several NHL defensemen — such as Kris Letang, Matt Niskanen, John Carlson, Ben Lovejoy, Deryk Engelland — when he was a Penguins assistant and head coach of their AHL team, and then the Capitals’ associate head coach. Reirden also mentored Brent Burns, a frontrunner for the Norris Trophy this season, when the two played together for the Houston Aeros of the AHL during the 2004-05 NHL lockout.

For the past two seasons Reirden has directed the Capitals’ formidable power play which was tied for third-best in the league this season (23.1 percent success) and fifth last season (21.9). The Panthers were ranked 24th this past season (17 percent) and 23rd the previous year (23.9). Assistant Dave Barr, who ran the power play this season, was fired when Rowe was demoted on April 10.

Reirden has cut his coaching teeth under Dan Bylsma in Pittsburgh, Oilers coach Todd McLellan when both were with the Aeros, and Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville, whom he played for in St. Louis. Quenneville was hired by Tallon when he was calling the shots in Chicago, and he has directed the Blackhawks to three Stanley Cup titles since 2010.

“I hope that at the end of the day, every player that I’ve coached feels like I’ve done everything in my power to make them a better player,” Reirden told the Washington Post. “That’s the thing that I mostly hang my hat on, that the players know that I will be there long before they get to the rink and long after they get to the rink, working on things to try to help them and help our team win and make them and our organization better.”

Tallon has made it clear that he wants a youngthinking coach who can relate to the “GenX’’ players on the Panthers.

“We’re looking for a creative guy, a contemporary guy that is a good communicator, a good teacher,” said Tallon, who is with Team USA in Cologne, Germany, at the world championships. “You know we have a young core and we have young players coming. We have a lot of good prospects that we’ve witnessed in the past few games with McCoshen and Weegar and [Denis] Malgin and we have many more coming as well, so we’re looking for a contemporary guy that can handle the younger player today and that can understand that they still have to be coached and mentored and taught and yet still have that passion to win.”

“We’re looking for a creative guy, a contemporary guy that is a good communicator, a good teacher.” Dale Tallon, Panthers general manager

BILL WIPPERT/COURTESY Assistant coach Phil Housley of the Nashville Predators is running a defense that has allowed just 14 goals in 10 playoff games.

JIM MCISAAC/COURTESY Todd Reirden of the Washington Capitals has been in charge of the team’s power play unit. He has also worked on developing defensemen in the past.